Inspired

Every once in awhile, something comes along that really wows you. A moment that you play witness too that truly, truly inspires you.

Where I work in the hospital is a place that's filled with the sickest of the sick. Incredibly tragic cases where sometimes there's almost no glimmer of hope left. Young, old, men, women, large families, or no one at all. I've seen so many. Heartbreaking. At times it makes you question, what's the point? It's hard feeling so helpless, when even the doctors don't know what to do.

So it's a wonderfully incredible surprise to see that sometimes there is a chance. Yesterday following rounds, a lady stopped one of my co-workers in the hallway, telling him that she knew his face. Apparently, her husband had been in the unit some time ago, and we had interviewed her for one our studies. He had been one of those cases. Where all hope seemed to have gone. Survival? Unlikely. A 'normal' life where he could live independently? Almost unthinkable.

But here she was, introducing this smiling, jolly and healthy looking man as her husband, the same person who 6 months ago had maybe a 10% chance to live. He had some residual problems from his illness, but here they were together, alive, happy and well.

The wife asked us to lead them back to our unit so that she could see the people who had taken care of her husband again, to introduce them to him, to show them that he was okay now, to thank them. They held hands as we walked there, and she especially was beaming from ear to ear. We asked them to wait as we went to tell the nurses they were here. She wanted to see one in particular. When he came out, it seemed all the emotions within herself poured out, not wanting or willing to be contained. The tears flowed from both, but they were obviously tears of joy, happiness and gratitude. They hugged each other for a long time. Other nurses gathered around and congratulated the husband, telling him he looked so well, telling him that his wife never gave up on him. Dr. C & Dr. Nice were around too. They were seemingly shocked by the situation as well. "You see," said Dr. Nice, "everyday we deal with survival, if they'll live, not necessarily how their lives will be after." So it's hard for these doctors, nurses or even I to picture how these patients do once or if they leave the unit. I was transfixed by the entire situation. Wowed and humbled by the fact that even with the knowledge we have today, things can still truly amaze you.

Being there that day, even though I didn't know the patient or his wife, made me feel very honoured. As an undergrad who was interested in medicine, and even now as a medical student, I was & still am often asked why. Why do I want to be a doctor? Why do you want to practice medicine? It's a hard question. I'm often at a lost for words when I get asked this. It's hard for me to really define or put into words what drew me to this profession. What I do know though is it has a lot to do with moments like this. The way the patient made it despite all odds. The way I felt then & there when I heard their story. And if I'm lucky, the bond the lady and nurse had as they hugged each other and cried because they had made it through together.

As Dr. C put it "it's not too often we have them, but sometimes there truly are miracles."